Additional weaponry for BRP Ramon Alcaraz now in PH

The Philippine Navy (PN) announced that additional weaponry for its latest acquisition, the BRP Ramon Alcaraz (PF-16), is already in the country.

Cmdr. Gregory Fabic, Navy public affairs office chief, said that the two Mark 38 Model 2 “Bushmaster” 25mm automatic cannons are already in a secured location.

He declined to comment on where this is for security reasons.

“What we are waiting now is the arrival of the US Coast Guard team who will install the weapons,” Fabic said in Filipino.

The “Bushmaster” automatic cannons will be fitted to BRP Ramon Alcaraz’s port (left) and starboard (right) side and will act as the ship’s secondary armament.

The decision to seek US Coast Guard aid in installing these automatic cannons came in the wake of the high cost of having the guns installed by a private shipyard.

The guns were supposed to be installed before BRP Ramon Alcaraz’s Nov. 22 commissioning but the cost of having it done here was just too expensive for the Navy.

The weapon was commissioned by the US Navy following the terrorist attack on the USS Cole in 2000, and was designed to counter high-speed maneuvering surface targets.It will be installed in almost all US surface ships by 2015.

The remotely controlled chain gun system can fire as many as 180 25m rounds per minute at targets as far as two kilometers. PNA